Jeremiah:5-7

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* Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem , and see now , and know , and seek in the broad places thereof , if ye can find a man , if there be any that executeth judgment , that seeketh the truth ; and I will pardon it . * And though they say , The LORD liveth ; surely they swear falsely . * O LORD , are not thine eyes upon the truth ? thou hast stricken them , but they have not grieved ; thou hast consumed them , but they have refused to receive correction : they have made their faces harder than a rock ; they have refused to return . * Therefore I said , Surely these are poor ; they are foolish : for they know not the way of the LORD , nor the judgment of their God . * I will get me unto the great men , and will speak unto them ; for they have known the way of the LORD , and the judgment of their God : but these have altogether broken the yoke , and burst the bonds . * Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them , and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them , a leopard shall watch over their cities : every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces : because their transgressions are many , and their backslidings are increased . * How shall I pardon thee for this ? thy children have forsaken me , and sworn by them that are no gods : when I had fed them to the full , they then committed adultery , and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots ' houses . * They were as fed horses in the morning : every one neighed after his neighbour 's wife . * Shall I not visit for these things ? saith the LORD : and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ? * Go ye up upon her walls , and destroy ; but make not a full end : take away her battlements ; for they are not the LORD 'S . * For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me , saith the LORD . * They have belied the LORD , and said , It is not he ; neither shall evil come upon us ; neither shall we see sword nor famine : * And the prophets shall become wind , and the word is not in them : thus shall it be done unto them . * Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts , Because ye speak this word , behold , I will make my words in thy mouth fire , and this people wood , and it shall devour them . * Lo , I will bring a nation upon you from far , O house of Israel , saith the LORD : it is a mighty nation , it is an ancient nation , a nation whose language thou knowest not , neither understandest what they say . * Their quiver is as an open sepulchre , they are all mighty men . * And they shall eat up thine harvest , and thy bread , which thy sons and thy daughters should eat : they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds : they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees : they shall impoverish thy fenced cities , wherein thou trustedst , with the sword . * Nevertheless in those days , saith the LORD , I will not make a full end with you . * And it shall come to pass , when ye shall say , Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us ? then shalt thou answer them , Like as ye have forsaken me , and served strange gods in your land , so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours . * Declare this in the house of Jacob , and publish it in Judah , saying , * Hear now this , O foolish people , and without understanding ; which have eyes , and see not ; which have ears , and hear not : * Fear ye not me ? saith the LORD : will ye not tremble at my presence , which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree , that it cannot pass it : and though the waves thereof toss themselves , yet can they not prevail ; though they roar , yet can they not pass over it ? * But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart ; they are revolted and gone . * Neither say they in their heart , Let us now fear the LORD our God , that giveth rain , both the former and the latter , in his season : he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest . * Your iniquities have turned away these things , and your sins have withholden good things from you . * For among my people are found wicked men : they lay wait , as he that setteth snares ; they set a trap , they catch men . * As a cage is full of birds , so are their houses full of deceit : therefore they are become great , and waxen rich . * They are waxen fat , they shine : yea , they overpass the deeds of the wicked : they judge not the cause , the cause of the fatherless , yet they prosper ; and the right of the needy do they not judge . * Shall I not visit for these things ? saith the LORD : shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ? * A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land ; * The prophets prophesy falsely , and the priests bear rule by their means ; and my people love to have it so : and what will ye do in the end thereof ? * O ye children of Benjamin , gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem , and blow the trumpet in Tekoa , and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem : for evil appeareth out of the north , and great destruction . * I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman . * The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her ; they shall pitch their tents against her round about ; they shall feed every one in his place . * Prepare ye war against her ; arise , and let us go up at noon . Woe unto us ! for the day goeth away , for the shadows of the evening are stretched out . * Arise , and let us go by night , and let us destroy her palaces . * For thus hath the LORD of hosts said , Hew ye down trees , and cast a mount against Jerusalem : this is the city to be visited ; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her . * As a fountain casteth out her waters , so she casteth out her wickedness : violence and spoil is heard in her ; before me continually is grief and wounds . * Be thou instructed , O Jerusalem , lest my soul depart from thee ; lest I make thee desolate , a land not inhabited . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine : turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets . * To whom shall I speak , and give warning , that they may hear ? behold , their ear is uncircumcised , and they cannot hearken : behold , the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach ; they have no delight in it . * Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD ; I am weary with holding in : I will pour it out upon the children abroad , and upon the assembly of young men together : for even the husband with the wife shall be taken , the aged with him that is full of days . * And their houses shall be turned unto others , with their fields and wives together : for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land , saith the LORD . * For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness ; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely . * They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly , saying , Peace , peace ; when there is no peace . * Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination ? nay , they were not at all ashamed , neither could they blush : therefore they shall fall among them that fall : at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down , saith the LORD . * Thus saith the LORD , Stand ye in the ways , and see , and ask for the old paths , where is the good way , and walk therein , and ye shall find rest for your souls . But they said , We will not walk therein . * Also I set watchmen over you , saying , Hearken to the sound of the trumpet . But they said , We will not hearken . * Therefore hear , ye nations , and know , O congregation , what is among them . * Hear , O earth : behold , I will bring evil upon this people , even the fruit of their thoughts , because they have not hearkened unto my words , nor to my law , but rejected it . * To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba , and the sweet cane from a far country ? your burnt offerings are not acceptable , nor your sacrifices sweet unto me . * Therefore thus saith the LORD , Behold , I will lay stumblingblocks before this people , and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them ; the neighbour and his friend shall perish . * Thus saith the LORD , Behold , a people cometh from the north country , and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth . * They shall lay hold on bow and spear ; they are cruel , and have no mercy ; their voice roareth like the sea ; and they ride upon horses , set in array as men for war against thee , O daughter of Zion . * We have heard the fame thereof : our hands wax feeble : anguish hath taken hold of us , and pain , as of a woman in travail . * Go not forth into the field , nor walk by the way ; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side . * O daughter of my people , gird thee with sackcloth , and wallow thyself in ashes : make thee mourning , as for an only son , most bitter lamentation : for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us . * I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people , that thou mayest know and try their way . * They are all grievous revolters , walking with slanders : they are brass and iron ; they are all corrupters . * The bellows are burned , the lead is consumed of the fire ; the founder melteth in vain : for the wicked are not plucked away . * Reprobate silver shall men call them , because the LORD hath rejected them . * The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying , * Stand in the gate of the LORD 'S house , and proclaim there this word , and say , Hear the word of the LORD , all ye of Judah , that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel , Amend your ways and your doings , and I will cause you to dwell in this place . * Trust ye not in lying words , saying , The temple of the LORD , The temple of the LORD , The temple of the LORD , are these . * For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings ; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour ; * If ye oppress not the stranger , the fatherless , and the widow , and shed not innocent blood in this place , neither walk after other gods to your hurt : * Then will I cause you to dwell in this place , in the land that I gave to your fathers , for ever and ever . * Behold , ye trust in lying words , that cannot profit . * Will ye steal , murder , and commit adultery , and swear falsely , and burn incense unto Baal , and walk after other gods whom ye know not ; * And come and stand before me in this house , which is called by my name , and say , We are delivered to do all these abominations ? * Is this house , which is called by my name , become a den of robbers in your eyes ? Behold , even I have seen it , saith the LORD . * But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh , where I set my name at the first , and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel . * And now , because ye have done all these works , saith the LORD , and I spake unto you , rising up early and speaking , but ye heard not ; and I called you , but ye answered not ; * Therefore will I do unto this house , which is called by my name , wherein ye trust , and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers , as I have done to Shiloh . * And I will cast you out of my sight , as I have cast out all your brethren , even the whole seed of Ephraim . * Therefore pray not thou for this people , neither lift up cry nor prayer for them , neither make intercession to me : for I will not hear thee . * Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? * The children gather wood , and the fathers kindle the fire , and the women knead their dough , to make cakes to the queen of heaven , and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods , that they may provoke me to anger . * Do they provoke me to anger ? saith the LORD : do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces ? * Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD ; Behold , mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place , upon man , and upon beast , and upon the trees of the field , and upon the fruit of the ground ; and it shall burn , and shall not be quenched . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel ; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices , and eat flesh . * For I spake not unto your fathers , nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt , concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices : * But this thing commanded I them , saying , Obey my voice , and I will be your God , and ye shall be my people : and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you , that it may be well unto you . * But they hearkened not , nor inclined their ear , but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart , and went backward , and not forward . * Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets , daily rising up early and sending them : * Yet they hearkened not unto me , nor inclined their ear , but hardened their neck : they did worse than their fathers . * Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them ; but they will not hearken to thee : thou shalt also call unto them ; but they will not answer thee . * But thou shalt say unto them , This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God , nor receiveth correction : truth is perished , and is cut off from their mouth . * Cut off thine hair , O Jerusalem , and cast it away , and take up a lamentation on high places ; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath . * For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight , saith the LORD : they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name , to pollute it . * And they have built the high places of Tophet , which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom , to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire ; which I commanded them not , neither came it into my heart . * Therefore , behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that it shall no more be called Tophet , nor the valley of the son of Hinnom , but the valley of slaughter : for they shall bury in Tophet , till there be no place . * And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven , and for the beasts of the earth ; and none shall fray them away . * Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah , and from the streets of Jerusalem , the voice of mirth , and the voice of gladness , the voice of the bridegroom , and the voice of the bride : for the land shall be desolate . * At that time , saith the LORD , they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah , and the bones of his princes , and the bones of the priests , and the bones of the prophets , and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem , out of their graves :

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